ANTIOCHUS, the name of 13 kings of the Seleucid dynasty in nearer Asia. ANTIOCHUS I. SOTER (281-262 B.C.) was the son of Seleucus, a general of Alexander the Great and founder of the dynasty. Upon his father's assassination B.C.) he succeeded to the difficult task of holding the Seleucid empire together. He turned back an invasion of Gauls from the north, f ought the Ptolemies of Egypt over the possession of Palestine, and en deavoured to check the growing power of Pergamum. His son,